ROUND UP IN THE GARDEN DESIGNER’S LIBRARY…

Over dinner at the SGD Awards ceremony last year, Matthew Wilson MSGD and I began discussing gardening books. Which titles are on your bookshelf, I asked him, and which of them is the most important to you? Which do you pick up or refer to constantly? Matthew writes…

23 August 2023

STUDENT AWARDS deadline for standard fees and entry forms

6 September 2023

STUDENT AWARDS deadline for submissions

27 September 2023

MAIN AWARDS shortlists announced

10 October 2023

STUDENT AWARDS shortlists announced

2 February 2024

SGD Awards Ceremony

BY: Graham Stuart Thomas

PUBLISHER: JM Dent & Sons, in association with the RHS BUY: try Abe Books, abebooks.co.uk

‘The third edition of Graham Stuart Thomas’s Perennial Garden Plants or the Modern Florilegium, printed in 1990, was on my required reading list at Hadlow College, where I studied horticulture, although I was aware of it thanks to my father, who was a nurseryman, lecturer (at Hadlow) and, latterly, a head gardener. Dad’s copy was a very well-thumbed and slightly grubby first edition, which I inherited along with a slew of other great gardening books when he died. But it is my copy, in the updated third edition format, that I refer to most.

‘Along with luminaries such as EA Bowles, Christopher Lloyd, and Beth Chatto, Thomas had the wonderful gift of describing the characteristics of plants almost as personalities. He understood his subjects intimately from observation in his work with the National Trust, where he helped restore more than 100 gardens.

‘The book is organised alphabetically, with plants listed by genus, species, and cultivar, but avoids being a dry list, thanks to Thomas’s sharp wit and occasional self-deprecation. On Anemone nemorosa he notes:

“Refusing to be bullied by my self-imposed rules about height, I am including this species because it is a woodland gem.” Along with comprehensive descriptions of the plants, soil and aspect, are listed quotations from great gardeners of the past such as Gertrude Jekyll (who mentored Thomas), and helpful tips, such as whether a plant needs staking. Thomas did not approve of staking, by the way.

‘The late Fred Whitsey, gardening correspondent for The SundayTelegraph and then The DailyTelegraph, described Perennial Garden Plants as “one of the most important gardening books of our age” and that is as true now as it was then. An invaluable reference and an entertaining read.’ matthewwilsongardens.com